Macabre Monday - the deathly London fog of 1952

On December 4th 1952 the city of London found itself trapped underneath a wall of fog and by December 9th when the fog finally lifted, roughly 12,000 had died. But it wasn't because of ghost pirates.

A high pressure air mass settled over the Thames river and when the sun dropped, a cold front moved in from the west forcing any wind to come to a stop. So the air above London sat still and as the temperature continued to drop, people began to fill their furnaces with coal to keep warm. Coal ash, soot and smoke filled the sky. The coal back then was low-grade and sulfurous.

Last November, scientists out of Texas A&M University finally figured out what caused such a terrible storm of events. The anticyclone mixed with the burning coal and other toxic elements with an above average humidity for that time of the year turned the air into a fog of concentrated sulfuric acid.

So how did this all go so wrong in 1952?

This kind of thick fog wasn't exactly news to London, they had gained a reputation for their fog going back all the way to the 13th century but this fog was different. It was named "pea-soup fog" after the artist John Sartain coined that term due to the fogs thickness and green color. The air stank of rotten eggs because of the sulfur and black sludge covered the streets. There were also various coal-fired power stations across the city. Back then according to the UK's Met Office the pollutants that were emitted each day were 1,000 tonnes of smoke particles, 140 tonnes of hydrochloric acid, 14 tonnes of fluorine compounds, and 370 tonnes of sulphur dioxide and because of the lack of wind, this all hung heavy in the air.

As this heavy fog settled, transportation was shut down, flights canceled and schools were closed. Even the ambulance services were halted. People were told to stay home and they did but they were cold so they continued to fill their furnaces with coal. Sporting events got cancelled but of course the pubs stayed open. Even movie theaters had to shut down because the fog was making its' way into the buildings. Could you imagine that? It would be so creepy just watching fog sneak in under the door.

By the third day of London trapped under the fog, it had grown thirty miles wide continuing to enter people's homes, even reaching up to people's knees. Farm animals were choking to death and drivers were abandoning their cars in the middle of roads, unable to see where they were headed. People who spent any time outside would come back in covered in soot. And, of course, some people took advantage of this fog and burglaries took a spike and purses were snatched right off of women walking the streets.


On Sunday the 7th there was no letting up and emergency services were still shut down but the elderly and newborns began to die, unable to breathe and with no one to help them. As it continued to get worse, people all over began to choke and drop dead. Morgues began to overfill with bodies.


Finally on December 9th the anticyclone conditions broke and a cold wind came in from the West clearing out the fog. But as the fog lifted, Londoners were left to dealt with the aftermath. Undertakers had run out of coffins and the death count rose. People continued to be admitted to hospitals in the months that followed and deaths from bronchitis and pneumonia increased.


Now you'd think that there would be an uprising and the government would put in place some new laws and procedures immediately to ensure this would never happen again. But nope.

For four years the British government ignored what happened and it wasn't until 1956 that Parliament finally passed the Clean Air Act after years of public outcry and the death toll still rising. This Act restricted the burning of coal in any heavily populated areas. Homes were fitted with gas, electric and oil heating systems.


Unfortunately this wasn't the last time London had a deadly fog. In 1962 750 people died because of similar conditions. The reason the scientists out of Texas are studying this now is due to Beijing being in the same situation today. If there was just a small shift in weather like London in 1952, and the wind stops, China could be facing the same scary situation. But because of their massive population they could lose hundreds of thousands of lives.


Could you imagine how claustrophobic it must have felt to wake up and not be able to see a few feet in front of you on the street. And even escaping into your home was useless because the fog would continue to seep under your door frames. It's a complete horror movie made of natural causes.

Spooky shit!

Macabre Monday - The Garland Trial

Welcome to the first Macabre Monday where we take a break from horror movies and horror news and jump into real life horror. I'm a huge true crime buff and always wanted to try and write some of my own. So you are subjected to my attempt:

This is a story of selfish revenge. Revenge taken out in the most disgusting, life destroying kind of way. Revenge taken out by a man obsessed with what he couldn’t have. A man who let vengeance envelop his whole being, and let nothing get in his way – including an innocent 5 year old boy.

June 29^th, 2014 is the last day that Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents, Alvin and Kathy Liknes were seen alive. Alvin and Kathy were moving soon and so the family held an estate sale. About 30 people filtered in and out all day, shopping and chatting. In the evening the family packed up, ordered Chinese food, and then sat down to enjoy a movie. After the movie ended, Nathan’s Mom Jennifer took her youngest son, and Nathan’s brother home, leaving Nathan with his grandparents for a sleepover. The last time she saw him, he was curled up in bed beside Kathy, fast asleep.

At 10am on June 30^th, Jennifer returned to her parents home to pick up Nathan, but instead found what began a province-wide search for Nathan, Alvin, and Kathy. “Throughout the whole house it was just like a bloody scene,” Jennifer testified. “There were pools of blood on the side of the bed and on the wall and all throughout the kitchen.” Jennifer called the police and an Amber alert was issued immediately:

AMBER Alert issued for missing five-year-old from Calgary. 

Calgary police are investigating the disappearance of a five-year-old child and his grandparents from a home in the southwest and issued an AMBER alert on Monday afternoon.

Police were called to a home on the 100 block of 38A Avenue SW at about 10:00am Monday morning by a mother who went to the home to pick up her son, who was staying with his grandparents.

The three were not at the residence, and have not been located despite efforts by the police. 

Investigators say evidence at the scene suggests their disappearance may be suspicious.

Detective Lee Treit took swift charge of the investigation, that was dubbed Operation Amber. But this Amber Alert broke a horrible record. It became the longest-running Amber Alert in Alberta’s history. 

  

An entire province held their breath as police began to search. Newspapers showed Nathan’s young face and the kind faces of Alvin and Kathy. The news reporters pleaded for information, and despite the amount of blood found around the home, hope was held. What we didn’t know at the time was that police, by the end of the first day, had a list of six persons of interest. One was a local sex offender, the second was a man who had shot Alvin’s daughter years ago, the third and fourth were former disgruntled employees of Alvin’s, the fifth was a former house guest and the sixth was Douglas Garland.

So why Douglas Garland so quickly? The police released security camera footage to the public of a green Ford F150, asking if anyone had information about the owner. Garland’s sister (Patti) and brother-in-law (Allen, Alvin’s son) recognized the truck and contacted the police. They were quick to point the finger. 

Once the finger was pointed, police moved in quickly. Garland lived on a farm near Airdrie and on July 4^th the police swept in without a warrant, in hopes of finding the trio alive. Canadian law allows a search without a warrant under “exigent circumstances”. Simultaneously, Garland was nabbed at a traffic stop nearby. Const. Jamie Parhar handcuffed him and said, “he was very calm and collected.”

When officers arrived at the home of Garland they found a burn barrel still smoldering and hope began to fade. One detective found a duffle bag that contained handcuffs, a large knife and a billy cub. A warrant was finally drafted and so began another search – this time for the bodies of the trio, and the collection of evidence.

Overall 1,400 pieces of evidence was taken, but only 89 were presented in court and around 250 – 300 police officers were involved. One officer alone spent 10 months sifting through the ashes found on the Garland farm. Two weeks after the trio was reported missing, Douglas Garland, 57 years old, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. 

So who was Garland and why had this happened?

Douglas Garland, who allegedly suffers from ADD, attended medical school in Alberta when he was younger for one year before suffering a breakdown. Later on he started to work for Alvin Liknes, but when that business faltered, the working relationship ended. Those in the know say that it didn’t end on a bad note. According to Alvin’s son Allen, Alvin and Garland hadn’t spoken in about 7 years. The last time they even saw each other was Thanksgiving the year previous, but neither had spoken.

Many describe Garland as a loner, including his sister Patti. His parents agreed, Doreen Garland, his mother, also described her son as intelligent, handy and well read.

So why did this happen? Allegedly, Garland and Alvin disagreed over a failed patent for an oilfield pump over a decade ago. And although Alvin never made any money from it, he did make money from his other business ventures with his wife Kathy. Garland saw this happening. and it angered him. Perhaps he felt he was entitled to the same kind of success. He also developed an unhealthy fascination with Kathy, and when Garland found out that Kathy and Alvin were going to be leaving Calgary, he decided to act.

Although we currently do not know exactly the events that happened on July 29^th, and the days following, investigators put together a close enough picture by digging through the mountains of evidence.

The keypad lock to the Liknes’ home had been disabled using a power drill, the same lock that Garland had been researching online a few days before the kidnapping. Kathy and Alvin were most likely struck near the floor in separate bedrooms in their Calgary home based on bloodstain pattern analyst. The three bodies were then put into the back of Garland’s truck, alive. Evidence was found in two outbuildings on Garland’s property, in and around the burn barrel, and in the basement of Garland’s parents home. There were also two meat hooks, a large hacksaw, and an array of knives found. They also found a child sized pair of handcuffs and 50 adult diapers. DNA was found on rubber boots, a hacksaw, and one meat hook. Alvin’s DNA was found on a charred fragment inside the burn barrel, and Kathy’s DNA was found on small pieces of cloth near the incinerator. Inside the ashes that the officer spent 10 months looking through, he found bones, a small tooth and a pair of glasses.

A neighbour of Garland’s says he awoke early between 2am and 3am on July 2^nd to see a light on his neighbor’s greenhouse and when he awoke properly in the morning he saw a large fire burning on the acreage.

In the basement joists of Garland’s home, they found a hidden hard drive that contained perhaps the most shocking evidence. Photographs of dead and dismembered bodies, women wearing adult diapers, many bound with handcuffs and restraints, documents about killing and photos of Kathy Liknes. In Garland’s search history was more damning evidence including "most painful torture", "autopsy scalpel blades", "amputation", "lack of oxygen brain damage in minutes" and "what happens to the brain without oxygen." There were also manuals found about becoming an “effective assassin.”

Garland spent weeks researching this horrific kidnapping and murder. And until he speaks, if he ever does, we can only imagine in horror the kind of terrible things Alvin, Kathy, and young Nathan went through. 

The final nails in Garland’s coffin were aerial photographs captured by an aerial surveying company doing work for the City of Aidrie. The photos show two adults face down in the grass of the farm wearing what are believed to be adult diapers, and nearby a smaller figure, believed to be Nathan.

Over the past four weeks Garland has been on trial, and on February 16^th a jury found Garland guilty of three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Nathan O’Brien, Alvin and Kathy Liknes. In court, it was reported that Garland was agitated throughout the trial. The jury listened and saw all of the disturbing evidence listed above, and much more. Within 8 ½ hours of debate, and although the bodies of the trio were never found, the jury came to their verdict of guilty.

Garland is now facing a life sentence with no chance of parole for 75 years. Although, to be realistic, Garland won’t see 75 years. He’ll be long dead by then, at an impossible 132 years old. He is tied, with only two other murderers, for the longest time in prison in Canada without a chance of parole.

Reported over this past weekend, after being sentenced this past Friday and put in jail, Garland was assaulted by several other inmates. At around 10:30pm EMS was called to the Calgary Remand Center to attend to a 57-year-old man with serious injuries. He was transported to hospital in stable condition with “soft-tissue injuries”. Garland was moved back to the Remand Center on Saturday. 

  

The public now feel relieved, a psychopath bent on revenge, no matter the logic or the cost of life, has been locked away forever. But the family of the trio must now begin to deal with the loss of three incredibly important people. They have to grieve. The Crown Prosecutor, Shane Parker, said last week of the family, “I think they’re numb; they’re still processing”. Garland and his farm of horrors will forever be a scary story we bring up over the years. The family will forever feel that empty space and wonder exactly what Nathan could’ve grown up to be. A young boy who had nothing to do with this one-sided grudge. A young boy who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, whose life has been violently cut short. And Alvin and Kathy – they were moving to Edmonton to retire and spend a lot of their time in Mexico. They still had so much more life to live and love to give. But a disturbed man took that all way.

This is a story of revenge. But more importantly it is a story of a mad, egotistical man, who felt it was his right to kill a lovely couple over something that he believed he was owed. And most importantly, this is a story of three beautiful lives drastically and violently cut short.